Wednesday, 28 September 2016

Visits to the local library tailed off over the Summer holidays.As in, we didn't visit the library at all.In trying to rectify that, I have designated Tuesdays after school as library afternoons.It seems to be working so far.

Tuesday, 20 September 2016

Every now and again, I see a scrapbooking layout and I think, "I love that!"

It happened just the other day with a page created by the lovely Sian.

I had a photo I also loved,

so I put my photo with Sian's design.

The sewing machine was delighted to have monthsyears of dust blown off it.

{I had to look up how to thread the thing, it's been that long, and I think I might have to tweak the tension, because the cardstock is now a wee bit curly at the edges}
I don't usually work in 8.5x11, but I'm pleased with how it turned out.

Thursday, 15 September 2016

It was
pointed out to me recently that today marks 100 days until Christmas.

Yep, really.

I've always tried to avoid
thinking about Christmas until at least October, but as The Boy Child has grown
up, talk of Christmas starts earlier. In fact, we've already had a chat
about writing to Santa ...

I have plenty of happy memories
relating to the Christmas period

and a handful of family
traditions that appear every year.

It was while thinking about those
traditions earlier this week, I realised I'd created new traditions for my
own family of three.

{Anything done at the same
time each Christmas counts as a tradition, right?}

***

Here's a look at a few of them:

{feel free to stop reading here,
if you truly can't bear to read about Christmas just yet}

December Daily: the
brilliantly simple Christmas memories scrapbooking project. To quote Ali Edwards {whose
idea December Daily is},the simple goal is to capture the spirit of December
via one story per day.

This
year will be my 9th year of documenting Christmas.

Christmas
baubles: We never planned it, but each year of our
married life, The Brainy One and I have added a bauble to our collection.

The only stipulation being that its purchase must have significance for
us.

The
Christmas Box: The Christmas Box makes an appearance
on the 1st December

and is eagerly awaited by The Boy Child.

What's in the box?

A
collection of storybooks relating to Christmas and the Christmas CDs.

Elvis the Elf: Elvis joined our family in December 2011 and has appeared
as regular as clockwork every subsequent December since. For those of you who may not know why he
appears, he was chosen by Santa to be his eyes and ears in our home. Every evening, he pops off to Santa and
reports back on The Boy Child's behaviour.
He does this every evening until Christmas Eve, when he goes home with
Santa for a well deserved break.

How do we know that Elvis pops off to see Santa? Because every morning, he can be found in a
different place and sometimes he even brings
a note back from the big man.

So there you have it. Just 100 days to the big day

and an opportunity for me to legitimately think about the things

that make Christmas special to me and mine.

Thanks for indulging me!

{Today is also the 76th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain. Per Ardua ad Astra}